Bass refinishing. Best price???

[bkman42]

Picked up a streamer 5 and thinking of getting a shop in the UK to refinish in white. Any recommendations or idea on price?

[Woodinblack]

Can't help but would also be interested in knowing. I looked into it once and seemed like something would have to be pretty expensive to make it worthwhile (although obviously worth is relative).

[anzoid]

I used Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester (http://www.jacksinstrumentservices.com/) to get the body of a Stingray copy re-done in bright yellow (yeah...) a while back.
Cost me £200 (I think that included return shipping, though I paid to get the body up there in the first place).
I had already stripped the previous finish but Jack had to do some work on it to remove a bit of wood filler that I had left behind, because I didn't even realise it was there.
The finish was nitrocellulose and was really nice when done - very good quality. He only does nitro, no acrylics or anything like that.
Worth shooting him an e-mail anyway, I was well impressed with the overall service - responsiveness, communication, updates, etc. It did take a while but that was because I sent it over the winter and the finish needed extra curing time as it was cold in Manchester

[Grangur]

A friend of mine is a pro sprayer. He quoted me £100 as a mate's rates price.

Having now sprayed a few with rattle cans. I'm coming to the conclusion that £100 would actually be an amazing price for a pro job. £200 from a pro I don't know would be really pretty fair.

[Rumple]

A top quality job can be pretty expensive, the best Poly one I've had done was by Bow Finishing down in Surrey, it was £300 when I had it done some 5 or 6 years ago, that was a bare body with no old finish to remove!

[Dan Dare]

Jack's in Manchester very helpful, as anzoid recommends. Good work and fair prices.

[dyerseve]

I'm getting a Streamer 4 stripped (original poly black) and refinished in white for £170 by a local Luthier.

[Rumple]

[quote name='dyerseve' timestamp='1492547747' post='3281187']
I'm getting a Streamer 4 stripped (original poly black) and refinished in white for £170 by a local Luthier.
[/quote]

That's a good price, is it going to refinished in Poly or Nitro?

[SH73]

Have you considered spraying it yourself?

[Andyjr1515]

Sims Custom have a pretty comprehensive price list on their web site that is useful for seeing where the pro shops are likely to see the cost / value.

Shopping around over the years, pro jobs seem to be usually in the £200 - £350 range, for a standard job starting with a body pretty much ready to spray. Spray canning yourself can easily top £100 (plus the essential respirator PPE) if you are using decent supplier's products.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1492532448' post='3281014']
A top quality job can be pretty expensive, the best Poly one I've had done was by Bow Finishing down in Surrey, it was £300 when I had it done some 5 or 6 years ago, that was a bare body with no old finish to remove!
[/quote]

The Bow boys are the business.

[blunderthumbs]

+1 For Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester. Great guys.

[Root45]

Nitro is available in aerosols, and is not difficult to do.

By far the most time is spent on masking up properly, and sanding and polishing between coats.

Do that properly, working up to 2000 grit, and using auto trade rubbing compound, will get you a great finish.

Have a look at this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opzJcI3vWQ

[6v6]

[quote name='Root45' timestamp='1493042700' post='3285107']
Nitro is available in aerosols, and is not difficult to do.
[/quote]

I've done a couple and it's definitely do-able, but I'd personally say it is quite difficult and very time consuming to get a good finish, particularly for refinishes where you invariably miss some tiny damage before laying down the primer and end up sanding it all off again (don't ask my how I know this, gah!)

The materials are also quite expensive, and unless you have a spray-booth it's very weather dependent as you can't really spray in very cold or wet weather and get good results.